I recently applied for (and got) a job working at a Loblaws grocery store. Last night, I attended my "orientation", which basically consisted of four hours of watching training videos and being told, over and over, that pinching someone's ass is sexual harassment and will get you fired. All okay by me, so far--I need to do this to get paid, and it's not terribly onerous.
At A Glance Author Liz Contact [email protected] When It just happened Then the director of the session asks if there are any questions. Thinking for a minute, I raise my hand, and ask if there's a policy on piercings and tattoos. She says if the customers can see you (i.e. you're not part of the night crew, etc) you must have no visible tattoos or facial piercings--except on the nose.
My first instinct was to breathe a sigh of relief--I have both nostrils pierced, but no other visible mods. And, had my choice been the job or my piercings, I would have chosen the piercings. They're a part of who I am, and I'm not about to hide that--any part of it. After the initial reaction passed, though, I was curious. "Why," I asked, "are only nose piercings allowed?"
With a sigh and a grimace, the woman says, "It's a religious issue. We're not allowed to touch it."
Well. I was stunned, absolutely stunned. Both my sister and myself have used mods to mark spiritually and religiously significant milestones in our lives, part of the reason I'd never take my piercings out for a job if I didn't absolutely need the money to live. In that sense, our piercings are completely religious, and we both feel a deep spiritual link with them, feel that they are external representations of the spirit. But my sister would not be allowed to work with her lip ring intact.
That lip ring is every bit as religiously important to her as my nose piercings are to me, and yet it's invalid. So, then, the question becomes: When the company states in its "equal opportunity" policy that no one regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, creed, religion, country of origin, etc. can be treated differently or denied a job or a promotion...did they only mean "as long as we decide your gender/sexual orientation, race, creed, etc is a valid one"?
This issue has come up before. A good friend of mine, who is currently a male/female pre-op transsexual and basically considers herself a woman who has a superfluous piece of anatomy, has had issues with which washroom to use at work. If she uses the men's, she feels uncomfortable, but if she's in the women's, her co-workers do. So the company has decided she'll be assigned to the men's washroom, even after her surgery.
One religion's manner of body modification is legitimate, but another isn't? Where's the sense in that? Many different religious groups have used many different forms of modification for thousands of years, but only one is valid? Only one is acceptable to be seen by shoppers?
Since I'm only 16, I'm guessing a number of significant religious and spiritual experiences are yet ahead for me. Every time I mark one of those, do I become less of a valid person? Every time my spirit makes its mark on my physical body, I become a less desirable candidate for a job?
A hypothetical situation: if I were a burn victim, I would not be ineligible for a job. I would not be forced to wear bandages after my skin had healed. I would not have to cover myself, I would not have to be ashamed. The thought that I would not be hired because something had happened to me and left a wound would be abhorrent, ridiculous, and very un-politically correct. It's the same with my piercings. Something happened to me, not of my choice. My only choice was that it leave a physical mark on my body. Could our hypothetical burn victim be shunned because she didn't opt for plastic surgery to "correct" the scars? Because she chose to leave them as a reminder? Many people are repulsed by, even frightened of the appearance of burn scars, but it would be "wrong" not to hire the victim because of this. She could probably sue the company.
My piercings are the physical scars of things that have touched me where I can't be seen. Because I didn't hide these things away, which would of course be doing the equivalent of getting plastic surgery for this hypothetical burned woman, however, I would be ineligible for certain jobs if it weren't for the fact that the place I chose for my "scars" happens to coincide with that of another religious faith!
It's the same old tired refrain--if you're not part of a "mainstream" or "acknowledged" group, you're not a valid person. I wish it made me angry...it just makes me want to cry.